By definition, demonstrating in support of a dictator is demonstrating against democracy.
Earlier this month, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) faithful, including former chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), took to the streets to demonstrate on behalf of dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), accusing the pan-green camp of "rewriting history."
It should be no surprise the KMT faithful have adopted this weak and cowardly attitude. Once again the KMT has taken the embarrassing position of avidly supporting tyranny.
Instead of parading in the streets to apologize for decades of oppression, seeking the people's forgiveness and supporting their nation, Taiwan, the KMT leadership and their supporters paraded with fists raised to show their love for a dictator and their beloved Republic of China (ROC), whatever that is.
What the unwitting faithful did not realize is that by so doing, they marched on behalf of China, glorifying its tyranny, oppression, lack of human and civil rights and, more than anything, its form of dictatorship, which allows for no dissent, especially from those pesky pro-independence supporters.
With wistful tears in their eyes while dreaming of the "mainland" and their loss of power, many KMT faithful rue the day democracy was allowed to take root in Taiwan and yearn for the good old days when nary a "splittest" was allowed to breathe, much less be president. They want a return to the days when elections, just like in China, were about appointing the next heir to the throne.
The protest to celebrate Chiang and the ROC is an embarrassing example of just how little the KMT has actually changed since the days of the White Terror and martial law. It should serve as a huge wake-up call to Taiwanese as they approach the legislative and presidential elections.
Listening to the bullhorns and beating drums and watching the waving KMT flags and raised fists, I could not help feel embarrassed there are still people who actually embrace dictatorship and dictators.
I felt disgusted and I can only hope that the bulk of Taiwanese wake up and understand just what the KMT and Ma are offering to them ... slavery, oppression, fear, one-party rule and the annihilation of everything Taiwanese.
No separate language, no separate culture, nothing separate from China and likely the attempted rewriting of history. Having lost the civil war 60 years ago, the only way left for the KMT is the path of intrigue and subterfuge, betrayal and, most of all, rewriting history to glorify a past riddled with death and terrible oppression.
After seven years of opposing every effort to help Taiwan improve its quality of life and economic security, and, more importantly, opposing every single effort to defend Taiwan, the KMT and its tiny accomplice, the People First Party (PFP), are whipping their faithful into a "patriotic" frenzy with wistful tales of great generals and the purported success of foreign occupation. This rewriting of history leaves out the summary and secret executions, the brutal theft of a country's assets and the stubborn refusal to give back what was stolen from the people.
In reality, what the KMT is offering Taiwan is a dictatorship, with one-party rule. The KMT is focused on making a life in China, where all the streets are supposedly paved with gold and all the businessmen are rich, where the biggest market offers the biggest opportunities and where one day the treasure that is Taiwan can be taken over, looted and stolen.
In the dark rooms of the KMT headquarters, in the secret meetings of leaders and hopefuls, beyond earshot, plans are probably being made in accord with promises likely already given to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by former KMT chairman Lien Chan (
Power tastes so good, it is hard to lose forever. The trouble is, Chinese President Hu Jintao (
And when the KMT faithful -- yearning for the good old days when they ran everything, when their personal corruption was law, when their profiteering was legend and when the "locals" were overrun -- open their eyes one morning, they will see a raped and burned Taiwan, bereft of its industry, its technology, its resources, its financial power, its economy and also bereft of its freedom, independence, human rights and democracy.
Sooner or later, they will also find themselves, a troublesome little bug of a party, in the cross-hairs of Hu and the CCP, perhaps hiding in the same foxhole as those "pesky splittests" -- for in any dictatorship, there is only room for one dictator.
One day hopefully the KMT will wake up and realize that true history cannot be rewritten, because it is carried in the hearts and minds of free people.
Lee Long-hwa
United States
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